1. Field of Invention
Toy wheeled vehicles, and more particularly such vehicles powered by air turbines and launchers for such vehicles.
2. The Prior Art
There have been various toy vehicles in the prior art which have been powered by air. For example, the Hawk U.S. Pat. No. 819,653 (1909), shows a toy vehicle in which air is pumped into a tank; the air then drives a reciprocating piston which operates through a pulley belt to drive the rear wheels of the toy vehicle. Of more pertinence, some of these prior art devices have utilized air to turn a turbine to power a toy car. In this connection, Allen U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,303 shows the use of an air balloon to provide air to drive a turbine to power a toy car. The turbine drives a gear train which drives the ground engaging drive wheel of the vehicle. The user first blows up the balloon and then places the filled balloon in communication with the conduit leading to the turbine. The force of the air leaving the balloon diminishes quickly as the balloon deflates. Further, the balloon itself would provide considerable drag to the forward movement of the toy vehicle as similar devices are sometimes used for the exact purpose of slowing down a vehicle or aircraft.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,540 to Convertine et al shows a toy car in which a turbine is geared to the drive wheel of the car. The toy vehicle is held on a launcher while air is pumped by means of a hand pump through a conduit against the blades of the turbine. The car is then released by dropping it down on to the incline surface of a launching ramp through operation of a manual lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,607 to Morrison shows a toy vehicle which is not turbine powered, but which is supported on a launcher while rotational energy is imparted to a single combined flywheel/drive wheel; then the vehicle is propelled forwardly before the drive wheel engages the ground.